I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 678

Crossroads. On the ramparts.

“Haa, haaa….”

The Dusk Bringer exhaled a hot breath.

She had barely managed to block the Night Bringer’s fifth breath that had been unleashed a moment ago.

The Night Bringer’s breath was incredibly powerful, but the Dusk Bringer was able to withstand it with the help of all the magic-boosting and recovery-boosting artifacts remaining in Crossroads.

Crack, crackle….

The artifacts were all broken.

“……”

The Dusk Bringer, looking in that direction with a weary gaze, staggered towards the bottom of the ramparts.

As she descended from the ramparts, her small body emitting smoke, the soldiers saluted her in unison. The Dusk Bringer gave a bitter smile and a nod in return, then walked away, swaying.

“You’ve worked hard, Grand Duchess.”

Evangeline, who had been waiting at the bottom of the ramparts, said with a worried voice.

After the negotiations with the kings, Lucas became the commander of the special forces, and the position of acting commander was passed on to Evangeline. Evangeline was now in charge of the entire front line.

It was also Evangeline who ordered the installation of artifacts focused on magic and physical recovery, instead of the existing defensive artifacts. Her instructions were accurate, and the Dusk Bringer was able to hold out somehow.

She wasn’t sure if she could hold out the next time, though….

The Dusk Bringer nodded silently, and Evangeline tried to say something but held back and just nodded back.

The Dusk Bringer walked away. Evangeline, who was watching her, turned her head to the side.

“And to all the scouts, thank you for doing your best in your assigned duties.”

The scout soldiers who had reported the news of the Black Dragon’s breath were standing there.

If the scouts hadn’t given the information at the last possible moment, the defense might have been more difficult. So Evangeline was sincerely grateful to them.

The scout soldiers bowed their heads in unison at the acting commander’s praise. Evangeline continued.

“However, we will no longer operate the scout team. From now on, the long-range observation team will be in charge of scouting the Black Dragon, so you all should rest and wait.”

“Yes? But, Miss Evangeline… no, Acting Commander.”

The scout leader cautiously offered his opinion.

“The darkness is so thick that the long-range observation team can’t see properly, so isn’t that why we were deployed as a close-range scout team, taking the risk? Even if we deploy the long-range observation team again, how can they….”

“Don’t worry about that. Damian… the sniper captain has been assigned to the observation team.”

At those words, everyone opened their mouths slightly and nodded in understanding.

Damian, the possessor of the Thousand-Mile Eyes [a legendary ability to see great distances].

If the best sniper on the front lines was observing with the best eyes of mankind, he would surely be able to see through the darkness.

“The sniper captain will scout the Black Dragon’s movements from the nearest observation tower. So don’t worry about the scouting mission, and since you have been exposed to the evil energy of the evil dragon for a long time… please rest.”

Having said that, Evangeline, who had been trying to be formal, smiled awkwardly.

“I’m glad you all came back safely. It was such a dangerous mission, I was very worried.”

“Actually, we were almost wiped out….”

The scouts exchanged glances.

“Someone… saved us.”

“Yes? Someone…?”

“Yes. Because of the Black Dragon’s evil energy, we couldn’t open our eyes properly, so we couldn’t see exactly who it was….”

The scouts nodded.

“It was a very familiar voice… but it was a strange experience, like hearing it for the first time.”

“Did he say who he was?”

“Yes, that is….”

The veteran scout who had retreated last conveyed the man’s words.

“He said he was… a very old comrade of ours.”

“A very old comrade…?”

Evangeline tilted her head.

“Where is that person now?”

“He seems to have stayed there. It looked like he was walking towards the Black Dragon alone….”

“Going to the Black Dragon alone…?”

Evangeline muttered, feeling uneasy.

“Who on earth, and why…?”

It was then.

Tap-!

The Dusk Bringer, who had been standing still in the corridor over there, listening to their conversation, suddenly kicked off the ground and started running.

“Grand Duchess?!”

Evangeline, feeling a bad premonition, hurriedly chased after her.

The Dusk Bringer ran with incredible agility, not befitting her injured body, and arrived at the teleport gate, then threw open the magic door.

Whoosh-!

From the other side of the completed magic passage, a dark malice surged in.

Evangeline immediately realized where the Dusk Bringer was heading. The Dusk Bringer was trying to go to the place the scouts had mentioned.

“Stop, Grand Duchess! That teleport gate is already being corroded by the Night Bringer’s evil energy!”

“……”

“The Black Dragon is on the other side of the gate! Even the gate will soon be destroyed! If you go there now, you won’t be able to return-“

However, the Dusk Bringer did not hesitate.

Flash-!

She threw herself into the teleport gate.

Evangeline tried to grab the Dusk Bringer, shouting something, but as the light exploded and the Dusk Bringer disappeared beyond the teleport gate….

Bang-!

Darkness poured out from the other side of the gate, and immediately after, the passage was forcibly closed.

With her hand outstretched towards the collapsed magic door, Evangeline could only blink blankly.

***

Bang! Thud! Rumble…!

The duel between the two dragons continued in the forest.

Ash dodged, parried, and evaded all of the Night Bringer’s attacks with unbelievably precise movements, never allowing a single hit.

And he used all the means at his disposal to pummel the Night Bringer.

As Ash swung his fist, a giant dragon’s fist made of magic appeared in the air and slammed into the Night Bringer’s jaw, and as he moved his body backward and rotated, a giant magic tail appeared and whipped the Night Bringer’s body like a lash.

When the Night Bringer tried to counterattack by moving his massive body, Ash created dragon wings made of magic on his back and lightly moved away from the area, then,

“Hooo….”

Gathered his breath, and then,

Thwack-!

He unleashed a breath.

A sphere of magic gathered right in front of his mouth, and from there, a jet-black beam of light shot out like a laser, emitting a sharp tearing sound.

However, even while relentlessly attacking, Ash’s expression was not satisfied.

“It’s really damn tough….”

It seemed like he was unilaterally beating him up, but the problem was the Night Bringer’s overwhelming stamina and regeneration.

The Night Bringer barely took any damage from any of the attacks, and even if he did, he regenerated almost instantly.

Ash clicked his tongue as he watched his breath bounce off the Night Bringer’s scales and scatter around, and the scorched scales recover as if they were new a moment later.

Currently, Ash had become a ‘dragon’ by stealing the Black Dragon’s blood, and his existence had risen in rank and his magic output had increased several times, even dozens of times.

But in the first place, he was too weak to even compare to the Night Bringer, the original owner of that blood.

‘If only I had a little more talent….’

If his eldest brother, Larc, had become a dragon, he would have confronted the evil dragon with his legendary martial prowess, and if his second brother, Fernandes, had become a dragon, he would have fought the evil dragon with all sorts of mysterious magic and strategies.

Ash didn’t have many options. He was inherently inferior in talent and ability as a combatant.

However – experience.

The overwhelming depth of karma that only a regressor [someone who can return to the past] who has gone through countless regressions and fought without giving up possesses.

Only this was Ash’s unique weapon that no one else possessed.

‘I never expected to be able to defeat him with normal attacks in the first place.’

Biting his lower lip, Ash smiled.

What means did he have left to kill the evil dragon?

There was no need to ponder. What Ash had prepared from the beginning was only one thing.

A means to kill fairly, even if he had no talent for swords or magic, no matter how big the opponent was and how small he was.

The optimal attack method for giant-killing, the attack method of the weak…!

‘Poison!’

Ash was a regressor who had experienced countless regressions. And there was a similar regression in the past.

At that time, Ash had also become a dragon, Larc and Fernandes were not by his side, and the Black Dragon was in front of him.

At this time, Ash improvised by implanting the ‘essence’ of proliferation and self-destruction into his blood, and then injecting it into the Black Dragon’s body.

Ash’s blood and the Black Dragon’s blood were completely identical in composition, so the Black Dragon’s heart accepted the blood without suspicion… and in the Black Dragon’s vigorous vitality, the blood infinitely ‘proliferated’ and at the same time reached ‘self-destruction’.

In that regression, he was able to defeat the Black Dragon by administering this conceptual poison. Ash intended to use the same method this time.

‘So I brought that ‘essence’ with me in advance.’

In Ash’s hand was Everblack – the guardian tree of humans, held in the form of a staff.

The instinct of humans is none other than proliferation and self-destruction.

A contradictory race that desires to spread its species widely, and at the same time wants to kill the same species.

From this branch, which had already finished its role as a magic beacon, Ash extracted only the ‘nature’ of the human race as an essence and mixed it with the drop of blood that had formed on his fingertip.

It was a conceptual magic exercise that was so difficult and absurd that the magicians of Crossroads would have fainted if they had seen it. But Ash did it as naturally as breathing.

‘It’s not that I’m bad at small and detailed things, it’s just that I can’t cast large-scale magic…!’

The poison was loaded. Ash wore his characteristic dangerous smile.

‘He’s still bleeding. Then, this poison will also work.’

Once the Black Dragon transcends his physical body and completely merges with the night, entering a mythical state. Darkness will flow through his body instead of blood. Then, this poisoning through blood will not work either.

That’s why he tried to confront him before the Black Dragon went north and finished merging with the night, and fortunately, he was still in a state where the poison would work.

‘While blood is still flowing in his body. I will inject the poison…!’

Flap-!

Ash, who had spread his dragon wings made of magic on his back, soared into the sky.

Towards Ash, who had stopped in the high sky for a moment,

《Hehehehe, hahahaha-! Good. Struggle more, struggle more-!》

The Night Bringer poured out a maniacal laugh and unleashed all sorts of attacks.

Feathers, magic, sound waves, magic power, and materialized darkness that were shot out wildly intertwined like a spider web and filled the sky.

Ash plunged into that spider web-like barrage without hesitation.

Thwack-!

Falling from the distant sky, Ash deployed black flames from all parts of his body that could emit them – fingertips, toes, elbows, shoulders – like the flames of a non-combustion thruster.

With the recoil of the flames, he subtly twisted and adjusted his body’s trajectory, gliding through the air and smoothly falling. He narrowly evaded all the attacks that the Night Bringer was unleashing.

Ash fell right above the Night Bringer’s head, performing acrobatics.

Ash winked mischievously at the Night Bringer, who was genuinely impressed.

“I was a well-known dancer in the Imperial social circles.”

And Ash took a stance as if drawing a bow towards the Night Bringer’s face.

Black magic gathered in the air and transformed into the shape of a bow, bowstring, and arrow. The arrowhead was loaded with the blood drop and conceptual poison that had been extracted earlier.

He was aiming for the eyes.

Not only were they much weaker in defense than other parts, but they were also close to the brain. In the previous regression where he used poison, he also killed him by injecting the poison through his eyes.

The aim was perfect, and the poison was powerful. Ash was certain.

This is it – I’ve got him!

“……?!”

But the next moment.

His vision turned white, and dizziness overwhelmed him.

His vision blurred for a moment, and Ash couldn’t breathe properly. His aim was disrupted, and the arrowhead lost its direction.

‘Huh?’

Only in the next moment did Ash realize.

He was bleeding from his nose.

‘What, why suddenly-’

After a moment of agitation, Ash quickly regained his senses and turned the arrow tip back to the Night Bringer’s eye, but.

《You shouldn’t do that.》

The Black Dragon was an opponent that should not be given even a moment of opening.

《To be distracted in front of me.》

Flash-!

From the left and right of the Black Dragon’s head, newly loaded ancient magic was fired like cannonballs.

Ash tried to dispel the magic with his eyes as he had done before, but,

“……Huh?”

His mind was blank.

He had to construct the reverse calculation formula to match the magic that the opponent was firing, but nothing came to mind properly.

In the end.

Boom! Boom!

He failed to dispel the ancient magic that flew at him and was hit by all of it.

“Kuh…?!”

The bow and arrow that had been loaded with poison were broken, and Ash, covered in blood, fell to the ground.

Rumble…!

“Haa, haa, cough!”

Ash, who had fallen right in front of the Night Bringer, tried to get up urgently. But his sense of balance was also gone.

The world was spinning. He felt nauseous, and memories flickered and mixed before his eyes.

Ash, holding his bleeding forehead, thought for a moment.

What was I doing here?

With his trembling arms on the ground, Ash, who was spitting out blood roughly with his body burned by magic, had a hollow smile on his lips.

“Damn it… is that it….”

Ash realized that he had miscalculated.

He thought he had at least a day. It was the minimum value he had grasped from his long experience. Since 12 hours had passed since he woke up, he guessed that he had at least 12 more hours of grace.

But it wasn’t.

Only 12 hours-

The limit time that his old and broken soul, which had been pieced together, could withstand was that much, and it had already been exceeded.

Trying to hold on to his self that was collapsing like a sandcastle, slipping through his fingers… Ash gritted his teeth and glared straight ahead.

《Why, Player?》

The Night Bringer, lowering his long neck, whispered in a seemingly benevolent tone.

《If this is the end of the encore, it’s a little disappointing.》